Boat



Nov. 21, 1961 s. ANGELL 3,009,173

BOAT

Filed March 19, 1958 r37 37x 1171'. a 5% 33 33 INVENTOR. 572P///V 4. ANGELA BY W United States Patent BOAT Stephen L. Angel], 131 Popham Road, Scarsdale, NY. Filed Mar. 19, 1958, Ser. No. 722,428

2 Claims. (Cl. 9-1) This invention relates to boats and is herein illustrated in some detail as embodied-in what isoften called technically a small boat or rowboat, serving as a tender of a sail or a power boat, carrying a crew of from one to ten persons.

Such boats are often used in beaching, that is, in carrying people to a shore where the small boat must be run on to a sand or rock beach, and also such boats are often transported along a road, as by dragging as a sort of trailer.

Reaching the boat in the customary manner by running it bow first up the sand or rocky shore is likely to damage the bow or bottom planking, and equally dragging the boat along a road when pulled by its bow is likely to damage the bottom planking at the stern, and to involve pulling a heavy load. Sometimes it is desired to draw a boat up a long almost level beach at low tide and lifting the bow becomes a heavy burden.

In addition, the how often collides with a fixed object, such as a pier piling, or collides with the side of a larger boat, and gives a shock to anyone standing in the boat or seated in it.

To minimize such shocks the bow timber of a small boat often carries an overhanging fender of coiled or roughly bound coarse rope to absorb the shock of forcibly striking an object.

According to the present invention the foregoing and other difiiculties, dangers and objections are overcome and a simple device may be built into the small boat to absorb such shocks at the bow, providing a wheel which may project below the bow planking and thus support the bow at a beach before the bottom planking strikes the beach and thus greatly ease the blow of striking the beach and ease the difliculty of dragging the boat up the beach. This bow wheel preferably runs in a well built into the boat and is preferably somewhat resilient, or preferably turns on a somewhat resiliently mounted bearing which may yield within the built-in well in which it runs with slight clearance so that no large and heavy body of water is dragged with it.

To relieve the wear and ease the load of pulling the small boat on land, the boat structure, near, or at, the stern, may also incorporate a wheel or wheels running in a narrow well or wells in the hull of the boat and projecting one or more inches.

All the wheels, both how and stern wheels, preferably serve as buffers by their resiliency and by their resilient mountings. It is often simplest to make them of solid fiat wood discs thus automatically filling up a large part of the wells in which they turn. For some wheels, a resilient rubber periphery may be advantageous.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 shows in side view largely broken away, the bow portion of a boat embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an end view of the same.

FIG. 3 shows a similar such view of a broader bowed boat.

FIG. 4 shows, somewhat diagrammatically, the hauling of a boat embodying both front and rear wheels.

FIG. 5 is a digrammatic stern view of the boat seen in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 shows, alternatively, in side view, the bow of a skiff with the wheel projecting forwardly of the nearly vertical stem. I

v In the form shown a rowboat 10 with sides 11, which may be so-called planks 12, and a keel 13, is provided with bow end 14 with a rotatable bottom wheel 15.

The simplest construction to illustrate, and often the strongest to build is shown with the planks 12 ending 'at a cross bulkhead 16 which forms the backing of a false;

is journalled, to extend how 17 in which the wheel 15 below the keel.

In any but the smallest boats it will be usually found simplest to build the false bow 17 separately upon a false bow plank 18 cut away at 19 to form part of a channel or well 20 wide enough to admit a pair of brackets 21 carrying the bearing 22 of the wheel 15. The well 20 usually extends to the keel 13 with its rear wall 23 slanting somewhat rearwardly to avoid forming a pocket which might collect refuse.

The bulkhead 18 forms part of a heavy bow unit 24 which is shown as shaped in the form of a conventional bow 25 having a front post 26 which runs down to the top of the well 20.

Below the cut away well point 19, on the rear face of the unit 24 the brackets 21 are shown as held by long screws 26' passing through fiat bracket arms 27. At the well 20 the brackets 21 are shown with nearly horizontal arms 28', which terminate in vertical arms 29 that carry the pivot or journal 22 of the wheel 15.

Thus brackets 21 of resilient metal, such as suitable stainless steel, form a resilient mounting for the wheel 15.

The well 20 is shown as curved to embrace the wheel 15 within the boat and above its journal 22.

The wheel 15, in a small boat, as shown in FIG. 6, preferably extends slightly forward of the bow 25 to take any blow against a pier on the resiliently mounted wheel 15.

In the form shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the side planking 12 usually ends at the bulkhead 16 to which the false bow may be bolted by bolts 30 diagrammatically shown.

The broader bow of the boat of FIG. 3 may be planked with the planks 31 which come to the prow 32.

As shown in FIG. 4, the boat of the present invention may include stern supports such as two wheels 33 shown spaced apart in wells 34, 35 near the sides of the stern of the boat, which is shown as built with a square stern 36.

The wheels 33, being trailing wheels, it is usually satisfactory to provide wooden wheels for resiliency and to journal them on journals 37 fixed in the sides of the wells 34, 35.

The wheels 33 are usually satisfactory if they project a few inches below the boat bottom, and run in low closed-top wells 34, 35 as shown in FIG. 5. Thus they are easily stepped over.

With Widely spaced wells 34 and 35, the boat is easily towed on land by an automobile 38 which may draw the boat by rods 39 extending from a catch device 40, attached to the automobile bumper. The rods shown run through eyes 43 and end on fixed pivots 42 on the side of the boat. To lift the bow the rods 39 pass through eyes 43 which may be fastened to a strap 44 straddling the bottom keel 45 of the boat and held in place by turned over ends hooked over the gunwales 46.

Having thus described certain forms of the invention in some detail, what is claimed is:

1. In a boat, a combination with side planking, of a cross bulkhead at the forward end of said planking, a removable false bow plank held againstsaid bulkhead, a false bow body including a narrow well carried by said false bow plank, a wheel mostly within the well and in r 3,009,173 I Patented Nov. 2 1.,".1 961" 2. In a. boat a combination with side planking of a. cross bulkhead at the forward end of said planking, a.

removable false bow plank held against said, bulkhead,

afalsebow-bodyincluding a narrowwellcarried by said false bow plank, a. wheel with resilient periphery mostly, within the well and. in. front ofthe. plankwith. its. rim projecting slightly forward of thebow, removable brackets projecting. forwardly from. said plank within: the well,

and journals within the. well carrying said-wheel and supported substantially at the front ends of saidbrackets;

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Minett Dec. 1, 1914 Mulvihill June 26, 1923 Kries Feb. 6, 1940 Taylor May 6, 1941 Samdahl May 19, 1942 Iohnsonet a1. Dec. 29, 1942 Iorns Oct. 11, 1949 Dustin et a1. Oct. 9, 1951 Bittel Oct. 11, 1952 Dahlkvist Apr. 6, 1954 Morehouse Oct. 29,, 1957 

